For quite a few years television had been losing it popularity as the dominant form of media. With the emergence and rise of other channels and devices like tablets, laptops, internet, and not to forget smartphones, television had been slowly losing its appeal for more and more people.

However, as smartphones were just about to completely take over, TV manufacturers took matters into their hands and developed technologies that have evolved and redefined the TV viewing experience. One such developments has been in the form of the ability to connect your TV sets to your smartphones.

While you can now control your television with your smartphone or tablets that perform the function that originally belonged to the remote control, it doesn’t end here. In fact, your phone can now further enhance your TV viewing experience with the help of apps offered by certain networks and channels including packages like DirectTV on Demand.

Here, take a look at some of the TV companion apps to further your viewing experience and making it more interactive.

Tv Guide

“What should I watch tonight?“
This is perhaps the question that people ask themselves frequently. TV Guide is the ultimate app which offers a detailed catalogue of numerous programs from different channels. Not only does this app help you on deciding the show you want to watch, it also comes with a personal watchlist feature. You can now create your very own personalized list of TV shows, as well as set up alerts as a reminder to when a show is about to start. Further, this app has added features that enable filtering to see how popular a show is.

Beamly

Though Beamly is essentially a social networking app, it is specially designed for TV enthusiasts. It is a platform which allows people to discuss their favorite TV shows and gossip about celebrities by gathering all television fanatics under one roof. After all, what better way is there to enjoy your #TGIT than engaging with more like minded folks while watching your favorite show on TV?

SyFy Sync

Especially designed for sci-fi lovers, this app is a great companion app to your television. SyFy Sync, as the name suggests, brings you detailed information on all the series related to sci-fi genre. Through this app you can get all the juicy details about your favorite series.
One of the most enticing features of this app is that it browses behind the scenes pictures and videos. By making the app listen to a television audio of a particular episode, it recognizes the series and brings out the trivia related to it.

Shazam

Music geek, are you? Then you must have heard about Shazam, a billion dollar company today. Thanks to the awesome technology it uses, It is the go-to app to identify music. It simply listens to a song through your set's microphone and runs a search. Not only does it identify the song, but gives you all the other details like the artist, album, year of release etc. Now, while you are surfing through channels on your TV and 'accidently' hear a song and 'love it', but can't recognize the name, simply turn on your Shazam app and let it do all the work. There are many other apps that have the ability to enhance your TV viewing experience by making it more lively, interactive and diverse. Apps like Twitter and Facebook let you update your status and share with your friends what you are currently watching on TV.
All in all, these applications have resulted in your TV sets to move away from its traditional goals towards a more accomplished role, thereby offering viewers a more interactive and fulfilling experience.